Chapter 13
Jay hadn’t been food shopping for a while, and he was hungry, so a quick trip to Ryder’s cafe would take the edge off, and he’d pick up supplies from Calloway’s Convenience Store on the way home.
Dan had called to see him, but aside from talking to his friend, Jay had just stayed home and worked, managing to finally force Blue out of his thoughts and focus.
“You bring that face in here, and my milk will curdle.”
Jay raised his middle finger at Ryder’s remark as he entered the cafe and forced his lips up into a smile.
“Way worse. Now you look constipated. What’s up, J-Zilla?”
“I thought that nickname died when I hit my twenties?” Jay said, checking out who was in here.
Two people were working on laptops, and a group of moms and their offspring were in the children’s area. Phoebe had provided some toys and made the space kid-friendly, and it was a hit with locals.
“Nah, we still pull it out occasionally,” Ryder said from behind the coffee machine.
“What are the scones today?”
“Lemon meringue.”
“You’re shitting me. Why would you ruin a perfectly good pie by making it into a scone?” Jay moved to the display case and stared at the plate loaded with—granted—delicious-looking baked goods.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Meadow came up with the idea, and so far, it’s a winner.”
“I like the cheese-and-bacon ones.”
“Can’t make them every day, bud.”
“Hello, Jay.”
He turned his head to see Meadow McAllister wander in from the kitchen, carrying a tray of muffins. She was her usual colorful self in a loose dress that fell to the floor. On her feet were socks and brown leather sandals.
“You look nice, Meadow.”
“What a sweet boy you are,” she said with a smile.
“Are you enjoying having two of your kids home, or are you and Hamish counting down the days until they leave?” Jay couldn’t just outright ask about Blue, so he’d work up to it.
“It’s wonderful, even if Finch can be a little opinionated and likes to boss his sisters around.”
“How’s Blue doing? She looked a little tired when I saw her the other day.” It was a simple question from someone who grew up with the McAllister kids, and there was nothing more to it than that.
The smile slipped from Meadow’s face. “Something is off with her, but she won’t tell me what.”
Had Blue not told her parents about what happened at her job in New York yet?
“I’m sure she’ll tell you when she’s ready,” Ryder said. “Not everyone is as open about what’s going on inside them as you and Hamish, Meadow.”
“Well, the world would be a better place if people were,” she said, moving to the display case after Jay had stepped back.
“What’s in those?” he asked as she lowered the tray inside.
“Chocolate and caramel,” Meadow said.
“I’ll take a scone and one of those,” he said to Ryder. “Coffee too.”
“Please,” Ryder added.
Jay raised his middle finger again.
“Better,” Ryder said.
“You should come and see my Blue, Jay. You’d be good for her because you have a calming presence.”
No one knew what had gone on between Jay and Blue, so why was this the second time someone had tried to set them up?
“Ah, well, we’re not really close friends, Meadow. Went through school together but never hung out, if you know what I mean?” Was he sweating? It sure felt as if his palms were damp.
“You have a lovely aura, Jay. Positive and uplifting. You’re a welcoming person.
A bit wounded, but peaceful and kind, and in a world where there sometimes isn’t a lot of that, it’s a wonderful thing to have.
My girl could do with some of that in her life at the moment,” Meadow said.
She then patted his cheek and headed back to the kitchen.
“She has really soft hands,” he said when nothing else came to mind.
“But never hung out?” Ryder raised a brow as he lowered Jay’s coffee to the counter. “You and Blue have known each other for years, which means you’re friends, surely?”
“Not close friends,” Jay said. “And she has plenty of people in her corner—”
“And let’s not forget that aura you have. Go you, being all positive and uplifting and shit.”
“Fuck off,” Jay muttered. “Box up my food, or I’m not paying for the coffee.”
“You never pay until the end of the month, so don’t give me that crap.”
Ryder got his food while he took a mouthful of really good coffee and wondered what was off with Blue Jay McAllister.
“You need to get anything off your chest?” Ryder asked when he handed over the box of food.
“Why would you think I have anything on my chest, other than lots of muscle?”
“Ha ha, you’re a wimp, and don’t forget it.”
“Fun as this is, I have a job, so, see you, Ryder.”
“Bye, Jay, and you know we’re all here for you, right?”
He looked at Ryder and noted his expression was no longer humorous. He was now deadly serious.
“I know and appreciate it. Same for me, not that you Dukes need anything. You’re always gnawing each other’s problems to death.”
“There is that.”
He left the cafe and headed for his car.
“Morning, Jay.”
“Red, Dee,” he acknowledged the Hecklers.
They were the oddest couple that worked. Dee wore the most revealing, fitted clothes of any person he knew, and Red was a big bear of a man who in school had been gentle and never made a scene. His wife loved a good scene.
“Have a breakfast date?” Jay asked.
“Any day out without the kids is a date. Even a trip to the store for milk,” Red said, slinging an arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“When are you settling down, Jay?”
“Ah—well, I have no plans to, Dee.”
“You need a nice girl. Let me have a think about who is single in town,” she said, tapping a long, blood-red talon on her cheek.
“I can see him panicking, honey, so leave the man alone,” Red said.
Jay raised a hand and climbed into his car quickly.
First Meadow telling him to come and see Blue and that aura crap, and now Dee telling him he needed to get loved up.
It was enough to put a man off his food—if something like that could put him off what was in that box now on the passenger’s seat beside him—and it was only 10:30 a.m.
He headed up the main street, turned into the residential area, and then pulled into the driveway of his house.
It wasn’t huge. Single-story, and all his. When you were raised with instability, you craved stability. This house gave him that. He got out of his car and let himself inside.
He’d had his home modernized. In fact, he and the Dukes had done most of the work. They’d taken out a wall and made the living, dining, and kitchen all a single free-flowing space.
The colors were neutral except for a wall of emerald-green wood paneling. Feature wall, Zoe had called it when she’d come in here and advised him on the interior.
Whenever Jay stepped inside this house, he felt something inside him ease, a tightness he was fairly sure he’d always carried and likely always would, deep inside him.
He headed into the kitchen, where he lowered the box onto the counter and flipped the lid open. The scent of sugary sweetness wafted up his nostrils. He took a bite of the lemon meringue scone.
“Damn it,” Jay muttered. This would be a favorite now too.
The knock on his door had him wiping his hands and moving to answer it. The welcoming smile on his face turned to surprise as he saw who stood there.
“Hi, Jay.”
“Hi, Blue.”
She wore a pair of jeans and a blue-and-white-striped button-up shirt. Hot, he thought. The woman could wear anything and it would look like the latest fashion. Her hair was in a messy bun on her head. But it was her face that held his gaze.
She was pale, and there were still dark smudges under her eyes.
“Are you okay, Blue?”
“Not really. Can I come in, Jay? I need to tell you something.”
Even her voice was subdued, which nothing about her ever was. Blue was strong and always in control. They might not have been close friends, growing up, but he’d spent plenty of time observing her.
He held the door open wider and stepped aside.
Blue entered and then stopped. “It’s nice in here.”
“Thanks. Zoe helped because apparently I have zero interior design skills, and she wasn’t willing to risk me living in neon colors, with rugs from the sixties.”
Her smile was small and nervous.
“Do you want coffee?”
“No, thank you.”
“How about a seat, or are you going to tell me what you came for from the doorway?”
She pressed a hand to her mouth.
“Blue?”
Jay headed back to the kitchen, where he picked up his coffee. Not because he wanted it, but he needed something to do. When he returned, she was still standing where he’d left her.
“Blue, sit.”
She did, moving to the seat farthest away from him and onto it. She then sat perched on the edge, hands clenched.
“Blue, what’s—”
“Jay, I’m pregnant.”
He hadn’t expected that. In fact, he wasn’t sure what he expected, but definitely not the words that had come out of her mouth.
“I know it’s a shock—I’m in shock.”
“When did you find out?” he managed to get out.
“Two days ago.”
“Just wow,” he whispered.
“It’s yours, if that’s what the next question out of your mouth is. I haven’t been with anyone else in—well, a while. So—”
“Don’t put words into my mouth.” His words came out harder than he’d meant them to. But he was in shock, like she’d said. “I never asked you that, and I trust you if you tell me it’s my baby.”
“Sorry, I just felt the need to say it because I’m sure some men would wonder.” She was looking at her hands now.
“Don’t mistake me for those men, Blue. I have my issues, but I hope I’m entirely rational when it comes to something like this.”
Jay drank deep from the cup he was clutching to give himself time to grapple with what he’d just learned.
“I’m having this baby, Jay. I understand that you may have different—”
“I just told you not to put words in my mouth.”
She shot him a look and then looked back down at her hands. “I will raise this child alone.”
“We will raise this child,” he contradicted.
She looked at him again, but this time she had a hand pressed to her mouth.
“Are you okay?” Jay got to his feet.
“Crackers,” she said, her voice muffled.
“You’re crackers, or I am?”
“I need crackers,” she said slowly while breathing loudly through her nose.
He sprinted to the kitchen and found a box of saltines, then ran back while opening them. He took two out and handed them to her.
She crunched while he watched and then sighed. “I thought it was, like, a bad virus that was lingering. The nausea comes and goes.”
“But surely each month—” Jay waved his hand about, as comfortable as the next man discussing this.
“I have a condition—I’m not regular,” she said and then took another bite. “I can’t believe this has happened because I was taking a contraceptive pill—I thought it would be okay.”
“Well, it’s happened, and we’re going to be parents, so we’ll deal with that and the fallout in whatever way it comes.”
“I don’t want to tell anyone yet.” She finished off the crackers and dusted her hands.
“I don’t hide things from those I’m close to, Blue. This is big and not something that won’t come out anyway in a few months.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she looked young and scared then.
“Do you want people to speculate on the father, or can’t we just come right out and say it’s me and that we’re going to work things out?”
“I know you’re right. I guess I just don’t want to be what everyone in this town talks about.”
“They’re good folks, mostly, Blue,” Jay said.
She nodded. “There will be shock because you and I—well—we’ve never been close,” she said.
“I know. But we’re both responsible adults. We can handle whatever comes our way.”
“Are we?”
“Responsible adults?” Jay asked.
She nodded. “I mean, for the most part.”
“We weren’t that night, but I think yes, we are.”
She sighed, and it came from the soles of her feet.
“I’ll tell you one thing, Blue. This baby will know and love both its parents, and it will live a happy life,” he vowed.
“Agreed.”
“So where do we go from here?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I need some time to work that through.” She got to her feet.
“Blue, I need you to understand that I am not running away from you or my responsibilities, and I expect both of us to be honest with each other going forward,” Jay said, standing too.
She nodded. “I want that. Can we talk again soon? I just need time to tell my family and friends because you are right, they need to know.”
He nodded. “Me too. But, Blue—”
She turned on her way to the door.
“Don’t leave town without telling me. We’re in this together now, okay?”
She nodded but didn’t speak again, and then the door was closing softly behind her, and Jay’s world would never be the same.